Agencies & People
News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.
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Has Purplebricks own ‘commisery’ report backfired?
Purplebricks has moved into attack mode once more and produced a ‘commisery’ report that it says proves traditional agents are “out of touch, out of date and leaving millions out of pocket”. But it’s hard to find much data in the report to back up this contention. The report also appears to have avoided asking respondents what they expect to get for the much reduced fee that Purplebricks charges compared to traditional agents. Nevertheless, the report contains some worrying research for agents. This includes how only 5% of those buying or selling are concerned whether an agent has a high-street office, that house sellers are becoming more aware about alternative selling models, and that 68.9% of the public now know that they don’t have to “fork out” a percentage commission on the value of their property. It also says that the average commission among agents is 1.5% excluding VAT or £3,929 per sale. But the survey results don’t conclusively back up Purplebricks’ contention that traditional agents are out of date. 35% annoyed by cost The company talked to 1003 respondents three months ago, of whom 35% said they were annoyed by the cost of using an estate agent, but only 11.37% said…
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Auction figures fall but there are positives!
Auction activity reported in the EIG’s (Essential Information Group) March newsletter looks back at residential auction activity in February and the preceding periods.
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Belvoir confident 3.3m EU nationals will stay after Brexit
Property franchise giant Belvoir says the EU referendum vote last year failed to impact its business, unlike many of its rivals. It also believes that the 3.3m EU nationals living in the UK will continue to have the same right to live and rent in the UK after Brexit as they do now, so there will be “no foreseeable reduction in the current level of demand for housing”. The comments came in Belvoir’s 2016 annual report published today, which also reveals that it is now the largest UK property franchise firm following its purchase of rival Northwood GB in June. “The Belvoir Group has not suffered any negative effects as a result of the EU referendum result,” the annual reports says. Started in 1995 and floated on AIM in 2012, Belvoir now has 302 branches within its network, 110 ahead of its nearest rival, Martin & Co. This includes a handful of corporate offices, 150-plus Belvoir franchisees plus the branches within its recent acquisitions. These have been Newton Fallowell in the East Midlands with 30 branches and Goodchilds in the West Midlands with 14 branches, both in 2015. Then last year Belvoir acquired Nortwhood GB with 87 outlets. This buying…
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Love2move launches on Valentines Day
A husband and wife have combined their expertise to launch a new online dating style estate agency service.
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Go-to estate agent employer for graduate applicants revealed
Savills has been named Graduate Employer of Choice in a survey of over 20,000 applicants by The Times newspaper. Competitors JLL were placed second and Knight Frank third. The awards were held last week in London and presented by Martin Birchall from specialist market research company High Fliers. This is the 11th time that Savills has won the accolade from the newspaper, which also recently placed the company 94th in the UK within its other graduate rankings scheme, Top 100 Graduate Employers. This was the first time the company has been included in the list, which is topped by accounting giant PwC, and makes it the only agent to get into the rankings this year. Savills is coy about how much it pays its annual 170-strong graduate intake, but website Glassdoor.co.uk reckons Savills pays starter associates £36,275. Knight Frank pays £37, 169, the website says, and JLL approximately £31,000. Mark Ridley, CEO of Savills UK and Europe (pictured), says: “To have secured this award for the eleventh consecutive year is a tremendous achievement and one of which we are incredibly proud. “Furthermore, this prestigious recognition underlines the importance we place on offering a first class programme that provides our graduates…
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LSL Property Services leadership team awarded shares worth £1.25m
Agency giant LSL Property Services has awarded its core leadership team share options totalling £1.251 million, part of the PLC’s incentive scheme for senior staff. This includes Group CEO Ian Crabb (pictured, left) who receives vested shares worth (at today’s shares price of £2.10) £406,967 and Group CFO Adam Castleton (pictured, right(), who receives vested shares worth £294,700. Helen Buck (pictured, below left), who heads up the group’s Estate Agency business, gets shares worth £300,715. A further two directors – Jon Round, director of its financial services business and Ronan Jennings, who heads up its surveying business e.surv – receive shares totalling £192,000. The group can cash in the shares in two years’ time but to do so have been given targets that could prove difficult to achieve given current market conditions. Basic earnings per share must rise by 7.5% a year over the next 18 months, while total shareholder return must reach the median compared to its main competitors. Annual report LSL’s most recent annual report for 2016 reveals that adjusted basic earnings per share were down by 18%. The group, which includes agent brands Your Move, Reeds Rains and Marsh & Parsons, earlier this month reported group revenue…
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ZPG purchase of Expert Agent to be reviewed by competition watchdog
ZPG’s purchase of software company Expert Agent earlier this month has been called in by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and is now under review, prompting shares in ZPG to drop this morning. The CMA has served an initial enforcement order to ZPG under section 72(2) of the Enterprise Act 2002. The announcement was made by ZPG this morning, saying that “having been informed of the review and the order ZPG is now engaging in a consultation with the CMA and will make a further announcement in due course”. The move has been widely anticipated within the industry after ZPG acquired Expert Agent – which trades under the name Websky Ltd – from private equity firm Metropolis. It in turn bought the company off founder Mike Griffiths in 2004. The ZPG acquisition of Expert Agent gave it a substantial slice of the UK agent software market, as it had already bought Property Software Group in April 2016. PSG at the time of acquisition by ZPG claimed to be used by over 40,000 estate agent letting agent branches across the UK, while Expert Agent is used by over 2,500 branches. The CMA has been in the warpath within the property…
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Lettings and strong country sales save the day at Winkworth Franchising during “difficult” 2016
Winkworth Franchising has reported a “difficult” year after publishing its 2016 annual results. This includes franchisee turnover down 6% to £46.1 million and franchisor profits before taxation down 25.6% at £1.42 million. But lettings saved the company from worse results. The annual report says its franchisee network, which is concentrated in prime markets within London, the South East, East of England and Midlands, experienced a significant increase in rental income from 38% of total revenues in 2015 to 44% last year. “Our rentals business continued to grow on the back of new initiatives such as the corporate relocation department,” says Dominic Agace, CEO of Winkworth Franchising (pictured). “With an improved proposition for landlords, property management commissions grew by 16% to represent 15% of rental revenue compared to 12% in 2015. “Rental income growth in the country was stronger still, rising by 21%, so that the total contribution to group turnover from offices outside of London increased from 19% in 2015 to 21%. This vindicates our strategy of expansion outside of London since 2008.” But Winkworth Franchising experienced a quiet year for sales, created it says mainly by worries over Brexitg, although like many other agents it experienced a rush of landlords buying properties…
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Hannells’ new lettings office opens
The Hannells Lettings team was joined by Derby County’s star midfielder, Bradley Johnson and club mascot Rammie to mark the official opening of their new Lettings office on Mallard Way.
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Purplebricks takes down website claims after ASA probe
Purplebricks has been reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) once more for claims made on its website and, following a probe by the watchdog, subsequently taken down. The claims under scrutiny on this occasion are that it “takes us just 14 days to find a buyer” but, after the complainant clicked an icon next to the claim, it clarified that “the average time taken from a property going live to a viewing being booked for the eventual purchaser is 14 days”. A similar claim made for the Purplebricks’ lettings operation was also contested by the complainant. Using an identical device, the company said: “6 days – on average it takes us just 6 days to find a tenant”. Upon clicking an icon next to this text the following text appeared in a pop up: “The average time taken from a property going live to a viewing being booked for the eventual tenant is 6 days.” Misleading? The ASA says the complainant suggested that both claims were misleading and could be substantiated and, after the ASA contacted Purplebricks, the company agreed to remove the claims and the case was resolved informally. This is now the fourth complaint received against Purplebricks since September 2016.…
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